Upon return from our excellent trip to Cuba Xavier and Joy picked us up at Fort Lauderdale airport and took us home for a two day visit.  Just like our stay with them before Cuba, it was really nice to do so without having to worry about the RV parked in the driveway or how the cat was doing out there all alone (PKM can’t be inside the house due to allergies.  Not the cat’s.  Someone else’s.)

We crossed back to the Gulf Coast and Venice, Fl, to stay with Gloria and Jerry for a two days as well.  PKM was no worse for the wear, and honestly seemed to really love having a fixed home with a screened in porch from which she could watch the rabbits that come every evening for Gloria’s carrot offerings.  Jerry treated us all to a big steak meal at Serious Prime Steak house, which had outstanding salads but managed to significantly under cook two out of four of the steaks we ordered.  No link for them!

I picked up Serenity from Mr Mobile RV (had a few minor things done while we were in Cuba) and a discussed with the owner, Bill, probable future repairs and upgrades when we return to Florida in the Fall.  After gathering up Rose and the cat back in Venice, we headed north of Tampa for a one night stay at Fort Desoto Park.  This Pinellas County Park has been on our “need to see” list for a couple of years, so we finally were able to fit it in.

It is pretty large for a county park, including nearly 300 camp sites, miles of beaches, and the old Spanish Fort.  We only had a single night stay, but it was enough to confirm that we want to come back for a longer stop.  We stayed in Camping Area 2, and though the other two areas are a bit nicer with more water views, they are both no pet zones.  Plus Area 1 is for tents, pop-ups, and camper vans only.

Our plan had been to get an early start and head to Weeki Wachee Springs to enjoy the shows.  If you are not familiar, this is a kitschy water attraction that became a bit famous back in the day due to the “mermaid shows” conducted by live actors in costumes for the benefit of an audience situated in an amphitheater below the water line, turning the spring into a giant aquarium.  It is actually part of the Florida State Park system, though the relationship FSP has with the concessionaires running the show is unclear, even after reading the Weeki Wachee Wiki page.

I had been a couple of times as a kid, but Rosemarie has wanted to go for some time.  Unfortunately it will have to wait until we get back to Florida in the Fall: I failed to do adequate research, and we arrived only to find the park undergoing major renovations.  This meant no mermaid show, no glass bottom boat tours, and no wild life shows; only the swimming area was open.

Ah well, it had only been a few miles out of our way on our route to Cousin Carlyle’s in Inverness, FL.  We headed there well before we planned, but fortunately Alex arrived home just a couple of minutes after we got there to let us in the front gate.  We had a great visit with them and youngest daughter Haley.  Alex and I also learned the danger of ordering take out pizza in a town that has both an Angelotti’s and an Angelo’s; make sure you know which one your spouse placed the order with before trying to pick it up!

Alex hooked up his shallow draft fishing boat and took us all out on the water on Saturday. We had great weather, and with a cooler full of beer and light snacks we enjoyed the ride and a swim at Homosassa Springs.  We finished the afternoon at a dockside bar, with boat moorings just down river from Monkey Island.  Yes, they have monkeys left over from old zoos and movie productions.

We closed out April and started May with a full week stay back at our main go-to Central Florida campground, Wekiva Springs State Park.  Having grown up in the area and visited this place many times as a child and young man, it never grows old coming back here, particularly since we get to enjoy the spring during school and work days when there is almost no one around.  Dad and Stepmom Marcia were there for part of our stay as well, and introduced us to one of the camp hosts, Bill, who made a strong pitch for us to consider camp hosting here for part of the Fall later this year.  We shall see!

We had great wildlife viewings this visit!  In addition to the usual gaggle of wild turkey’s, gopher tortoises, and deer, we finally got to see an owl up close and personal.  A barred owl deigned to sit on a branch for over an hour near dusk, and was surprisingly cooperative with photo taking initiatives.

We only have one more stop in Florida before beginning our annual circuit of the country.  More on the rest of our 2019 plans in a couple of posts from now.

Welcome to the second (and last) part of our Cuba tour write up. You can find the first part here where we covered a lot of the pre-trip details and planning and explained a lot of the fundamentals about travelling to Cuba, as well as covered our first two days in Havana.  Incidentally I just this morning added half a dozen pics to that post that I had trouble uploading when I originally wrote it.

DAY 3:  The Beach, the Fort, and the FAC.

After the previous full day in Old Havana, Talek changed things up with a day at the beach and a night on the town.  We started with breakfast at the restaurant just around the corner from the casa.  While the food was just reasonably prepared typical breakfast fare, the juices were amazing. Fresh squeezed papaya, watermelon, mango, pineapple and cherimoya. Oddly, orange juice was not available.

We caught the first bus from Old Havana to the eastern playas with a short stop at El Morro, the castle guarding the entrance to Havana Bay.  The castle was not yet open for tours, so we satisfied ourselves with a few exterior pictures before catching the next bus to the beaches.

As you would expect in the Caribbean, these are very lovely sandy beaches with beautiful blue water.  We rented a couple of the pre-positioned umbrellas and lounge chairs, I believe it was a very reasonable 6 CUC for each set for the day, and enjoyed a relaxing few hours with local beer and rum based drink available for far less than a US resort would charge.  Shortly after noon we had an outdoor lunch at one of the beach side, bohio style food stands.

We returned to to Havana in the mid afternoon to allow everyone the chance to clean up in preparation for our visit to the F.A.C. the Cuban Art Factory.  I am not normally all that interested in touring an art exhibition, but I have to admit this one was fantastic, though my impression was probably enhanced by the very strong drink obtained near the entrance before we even started the actual tour.  The performance and exhibition center encompasses three floors of what used to be a cooking oil factory.  It includes traditional painting, photography, and other wall mounted art, but also has live music, dance, sculpture and full room installations.

We had dinner outside on the rooftop to cap off a truly memorable evening.  It was a great meal in a beautiful setting, we strongly recommend including it in any Havana itinerary.  We snagged one of the larger taxis home, it might have been a Packard station wagon, and the driver, realizing we were up beat and feeling no pain turned on his interior disco light set up with the music for our short ride home.  What fun!

DAY 4 Donations, Classic Cars, El Malecon

Though Talek intended to change things up with breakfast at a different joint, the lack of a chef on premises yet pushed us back to the previous day’s venue for more excellent fresh juice.  From there we gathered up all our donation items and caught a taxi to an elderly folks home that has some relationship with a local youth group.  We met many wonderful old Cubans here, and received a thorough briefing on the different forms of elderly care facilities in the country.

After that, another highlight of our visit: a driving tour of Havana in a beautiful convertible classic car.  We had our choice from among a dozen or so parked in the central plaza. We selected the largest we could find, a 1950’s era Cadillac complete with big ole fins and lots of chrome with white interior.   The only disappointing thing about it was the backseat limo style bar was empty.

Talek pointed out the interesting archtectural historical features along the way, and we made a couple of stops for pictures, of course.  The final leg of the ride was along the multi-mile waterfront stretch known as El Malecon.  As part of Havana’s 500 year anniversary celebration many art installations line the way.

We went back to walking through Old Havana with a late lunch at a tiny little restaurant with good food and excellent gin and ginger based drinks, and visited yet another wonderful rooftop view atop one of the big hotels.

DAY 5 Vinales

The last full day of our tour would take us well away from Havana and into the country.  We piled into a 1953 Chevy taxi for the three hour drive to Vinales Valley.  We made a brief stop at a hotel overlook point with a beautiful view of the valley, a welcome stop after the long car ride.

From there it was on to a working tobacco farm for a tour and a smoke.  We got a short rundown on how the process works with some interesting information about the different flavor and strength of cigar tobacco largely determined by how high or low the chosen leaves are on the tobacco plant, and by other factors such as sun and soil.  Then we had a smoking opportunity made further appealing by the delicious guava infused rum drinks.  More on that in a second.

The cigar offered had just been rolled, and we learned that many Cubans dip the mouth end in a bit of honey, which alters the flavor and nature of the smoke quite a bit.  It was, frankly, a really nice cigar.  I enjoyed it quite a lot, especially since we got to share the time with a family from Baltimore visiting as well.

As for the rum: it was some of the best we have had.  I’m not much for fruit infused spirits normally, but the guava really worked well with the Cuban style rum, and we nearly purchased a couple of bottles.  However, we believed that we could get it on the way out of the country at the duty free, which would save us some trouble.  We were wrong.  Ah well, if we ever get to the point where Cuba is exporting to the US, that will be one of the first things I purchase.

Moving on, we headed to a underground cave and river for a short but fun boat tour.  It was a nice, very cool temperature large cave complex and some talented boat drivers working in tight maneuvering situation.   I think the best part was the exit point, just beautiful.

We headed for a late lunch at a restaurant with family style serving and set, but extensive menu.  After stuffing ourselves silly we stopped into the town of Vinales to check the local outdoor market before piling back into our taxi for the long ride home.  Incidentally, the 1953 Chevy was a perfect example of the imaginative methods Cuban mechanics use to keep these things running.  It had a Fiat engine, a Toyota transmission, and a Ford differential.  Truly Frankenstein.

We made it back to Havana well after dark, only to find outselves locked out of our Casa.  No one else was home, and we tried repeatedly to make the key work.  Even the neighbor came over and gave it a go: no luck.  After waiting about 30 minutes for the someone to hopefully return to the casa, we gave it one more try and voila, it magically worked.  I am not sure if our key was right on the edge of being off, or if the lock is just that sensitive.  Oh well, we got in.

DAY 6 Departure

Talek arranged for taxis for each of our trips to the airport.  Ours was late morning, and we had no problems at all, aside from the disappointing lack of Guava Rum at the duty free!  Ah well, we made do with a few bottles of Club Havana.  The flight was uneventful, and US customs and immigration was easier than expected.

On a final note, those of you interested in taking a tour of Cuba may be out of luck for a while since the current administration just removed most of the reasons a US private citizen may go.  We can, however, strongly recommend any tour organized by Talek: She has upcoming plans for Norther Spain, and China is in the works as well.

When we officially retired in December of 2014 and began our full time RV lifestyle in the weeks that followed, we fully intended to include traditional “vacations” into the yearly plan, aiming for one overseas trip per year, and possibly some within the lower 48 states flights as well.  In 2015 we went to Hawaii and England, but starting in 2016  money and opportunity limited our plans.  That year we made one trip to Brown County, Indiana so stepmom Marcia could show us that great little area, while Rosemarie made a couple of short trips to Coral Springs and Norfolk to see family.  The same with 2017 and 2018, a few trips to Norfolk each year.  (Our trip across the border into Mexico in 2017 doesn’t count: we only went for dental work!)

So when an affordable and well timed opportunity to take a six day guided tour of Havana and outskirts, we jumped on it.  It all came to pass through family connections: Rosemarie’s Uncle Mario’s wife, Talek, started up a travel organization after retiring from the international corporate world.  She leverages her experience working throughout Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia to take small groups on her personally guided trips, or provide you with the information, tools and motivation to do so yourself via her excellent blog: Travels With Talek.  As a Cuban-American, she has taken numerous trips to Cuba, but had never taken a group.  Since this would be her first, she wanted to beta test it on friends and family who would provide honest feedback, and she would do so “at cost” for her first set of travelers.

Talek’s guidance for this event started well before actual travel; she sent a series of emails to each participant filled with helpful information and links.  Thus we knew about the Cuban Travel Card, which serves as a form of Visa, and the 12 permitted reasons for US citizens to travel there.  (Tourism is not one of them!  We went with “Support for the Cuban people,” though education would have been acceptable as well.)  Talek made sure that our detailed itinerary included numerous events that supported and justified our stated reason for travel.  We knew what to bring, all about the complicated two currency system within Cuba, and how to maximize our money.

DAY 1: Arrival, Money, and the Casa

Based on price and airport convenience, and airline preference, we left the cat with Gloria in Venice, FL, drove to Coral Springs to stay with Xavier and Joy for a couple of days before flying out of Fort Lauderdale on Southwest Airlines.  We arrived early to get our $75 travel cards (they are sold by the individual airlines, with varying costs, so you want to do your research) and boarded a nearly full flight for the less than an hour air time.  Customs and Immigration was a breeze, and Talek had a driver with our names on a board waiting for us among the taxi scrum to take us to our residence for the next five nights.

There are three categories of hotel available in Cuba: government owned hotels (nice old buildings taken over after the revolution,) foreign owned hotels permitted by the government (usually very nice and expensive,) and private “casa particulars.”  In the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Cuban government had to pretty much restructure the entire economy since they were not getting any fuel or monetary subsidies.  They entered a Special Period that saw huge changes, particularly in agriculture, industry, and transportation. 

One outgrowth was increased partnerships with West European and South American business to monetize the tourist industry, and the eventual issuance of licenses for Cuban citizens to partake in a select list of private enterprise activities.  One of those is the Casa system, where Cuban rent out individual rooms, often to foreign visitors, sort of like a bed and breakfast.  Many of them are even on Air BnB now.

Our group split between to different Casas within about two blocks of each other.  We had our own private room, with locks, a private bathroom, and a shared large balcony.  We were given keys to the front door of the house as well, and invited to use the kitchen and main living room. The others in our group had the same general set up.  Everything was clean, we had hot water during the day, and were within easy walking distance of bodegas, restaurants, and some shops.

After meeting up with Talek in the other casa, she got us situated in ours, and gave us the run down on the local area.  We made the stroll down to one of the main thoroughfares to seek out a money changing venue.  As I mentioned earlier, Talek had prepped us for the confusing currency situation.  To start with, there is a 3% fee when exchanging currency, and an additional 10% added on for US Dollar exchanges.  Because of this we had gone through the trouble of changing our dollars into Euros before leaving the states, which saved us about 20 bucks in all.

Here in Havana we exchanged the Euros for Cuban Convertible Pesos, informally, “CUC” pronounced close to “cook.”  The CUC is pegged to the US dollar, 1 for 1, and is the primary currency for foreign visitors.  This is not the currency most Cuban’s use on a daily bases.  They use Cuban pesos, 25 of which equals one CUC.  And yes, the price for foreigners using CUCs is significantly higher than for locals using pesos; most vendors interacting with foreigners will only except CUCs.

Which is fine, because we found everything to be quite affordable regardless of the mark up.  We bought a bottle of three year old Club Havana for 8 CUC, fantastic cheese and ham croissants for just over 1, and usually paid just a few, 4 or less, for taxi’s around town.  Local beer, even in high end hotels, rarely ran more than 2 per can, and restaurants were noticeably cheaper than equivalent meals in the US.

DAY 2 Old Havana

The next morning we met up with Talek and the rest of our tour group: John, Talek’s youngest brother, and Jaems, a women she had met at a bloggers conference.  Originally there were supposed to be three others (a couple and their friend) but a death in the family had caused a late cancellation.  So here on day two we began our tour in earnest.  And let me tell you, if you have an interest in going on any of Talek’s tours, which we highly recommend, be prepare for a full schedule, because she does not play.  You are in this country for what may be the only point in your life, and she wants you to see everything in the limited time you have available.

We enjoyed a sit down breakfast prepared by the hostess at the other casa before boarding a taxi for a full day in Old Havana.  This would be an extensive walking tour of this historic UNESCO world heritage site, focused on the history, culture, and architecture, though with a few stops for refreshments, or course.

One of the most common phrases associated with Old Havana is that it is a city caught in time.  The vast majority of the buildings are pre-WWII, and, famously, a large portion of the cars are old American classics from the 40’s and 50’s.  One of the things Talek pointed out is that as far as the architecture goes, much of it really dates to the pre-depression era in the decades after the turn of the century.

We had a sit down lunch with live music before continuing our walk, then did a bicycle taxi tour of a couple more culturally relevant stops and a drink on top of one of the best rooftop hotel views in the city.  Many of the historic building have intricate lower level lobby’s, some of which serve as historic markers and museums.

We visited one of the local markets permitted by the government to sell various food items outside of the ration system.  It was from these markets that our hostess gathered the necessary items to prepare evening meal in her house.  This was an excellent capper to a long day, and we headed back to our casa tired but satisfied, and ready for an evening cocktail before an early bedtime; for tomorrow would be full as well.

I was planning on writing up our Cuba trip as one single post, but I’m already at 16 paragraphs and feel I am beyond many attention spans. Additionally, I am running into an unexpected problem with inserting google photos pics into WordPress, so until sort that out, no more pictures. Once I resolve that issue I will likely do the remaining four days in one photo heavy post since we won’t need paragraph upon paragraph of intro like in this one.